About us

The World Economic Forum

is an International Institution committed to improving the state of the world through public-private cooperation.

engages political, business, academic and other leaders of society in collaborative efforts to shape global, regional and industry agendas. Together with other stakeholders, it works to define challenges, solutions and actions, always in the spirit of global citizenship.

serves and builds sustained communities through an integrated concept of high-level meetings, research networks, task forces and digital collaboration.

delivers unique value to its Partners, Members and Constituents through its Annual and Regional Meetings, its Centres dedicated to global, regional, and industry issues, its future-oriented communities of New Champions, its expert networks of Global Agenda Councils, its TopLink knowledge and interaction platform and the Forum Academy.

was established in 1971 as a not-for-profit Foundation and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It is independent, impartial and not tied to any special interests, working in close cooperation with all major international organisations.

strives in all its efforts to demonstrate entrepreneurship in the global public interest while upholding the highest standards of governance. Moral and intellectual integrity is at the heart of everything it does.

"We live in a fast-moving, highly interconnected world, and our existing systems, structures and formal institutions no longer suffice. Pressing global problems can arise quickly and without warning. At the same time, new and unprecedented opportunities for global growth and positive change are emerging and must be harnessed for the future of humanity.

Barriers between political, economic and social issues have dissolved. The new reality of our networked society is that global, regional and industry developments are completely intertwined. Technological revolutions are changing the context for decision-making and disrupting our conventional decision-making processes.

Today, to address these issues, the world needs a level of global cooperation that is increasingly difficult to attain, precisely due to the growing complexities and interdependencies in the world.

The Forum’s experience since its foundation in 1971 shows there are few issues that cannot be adequately progressed by convening the most relevant actors from all sectors – business, government and civil society – in a high-level, informal environment of trust. Among international institutions, the Forum is an impartial platform for transforming dialogue into insights, insights into agendas, and agendas into action. This provides the practical basis for our mission: to improve the state of the world by serving as a trusted partner of all the stakeholders of global society as they embark upon transformation processes in response to the profound economic, social and political changes sweeping our world.

I encourage you to download our Institutional brochure, which explains in greater depth how we are organized as a community of communities to generate interaction, insight and impact from our activities."